A former South Korean non-commissioned officer has been arrested on suspicion of leaking the country's military secrets to North Korea, police said Tuesday.
The 34-year-old suspect, identified only by his surname Kim, allegedly contacted Pyongyang's intelligence agency in 2009 to hand over classified information on the South's military affairs in breach of the National Security Law, according to the Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency.
The former sergeant first class had access to state secrets while serving as a communication chief at an Army unit for about 10 years from 1998 and working for a communication company in charge of installing fiber optic cables at Army camps after his discharge, the police said.
With the help of an unidentified Chinese woman presumed to be a secret agent, Kim entered North Korea via China's northeastern city of Shenyang to hand over the sensitive information, according to the police.
After coming back to the South, the former officer continued his espionage activities, both trying to gather military secrets from servicemen on active duty and encouraging them to defect to the North, they added.
The investigators said they are questioning the suspect further about the motive for his espionage and for more details about those who provided him with military secrets. (Yonhap)